John Arthur Lithgow was born October 19, 1945 in Rochester, New York. He is an American actor.

John Lithgow is an actor with a broad range of interests and talents in every area of the entertainment industry and even outside it. He has been working in show business since the early seventies, and has achieved stunning success in wildly varied ventures. A list of his restless pursuits strains credulity.

At heart, Lithgow is a theatre actor. Theatre is where he started, and he started big. In 1973, he won a Tony Award three weeks after his Broadway debut, in David Storey’s The Changing Room. Since then, he has appeared on Broadway eighteen more times, earning another Tony, three more Tony nominations, four Drama Desk Awards, and induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame. His performances have included major roles in My Fat Friend, Trelawney of the “Wells,” Comedians, Anna Christie, Bedroom Farce, Beyond Therapy, M. Butterfly, The Front Page, and, most recently, Retreat from Moscow, Mrs. Farnsworth, and the musicals Sweet Smell of Success (his second Tony), and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

In the early 1980’s Lithgow began to make a major mark in films. At that time, he was nominated for Oscars in back-to-back years, for The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment. In the years before and after, he has appeared in over thirty films. Notable among them have been All That Jazz, Blow Out, Twilight Zone: the Movie, Footloose, 2010, Buckaroo Banzai, Harry and the Hendersons, Raising Cain, Ricochet, Cliffhanger, Orange County, Shrek, Kinsey, and a flashy cameo in the recent Dreamgirls.

For his work on television, Lithgow has been nominated for ten Emmy Awards. He has won four of them, one for an episode of Amazing Stories, and three for what is perhaps his most celebrated creation. This was the loopy character of the alien High Commander, Dick Solomon, on the hit NBC comedy series 3rd Rock from the Sun. In that show’s six-year run, Lithgow also won the Golden Globe, two SAG Awards, The American Comedy Award, and, when it finally went off the air, a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

His other major appearances on television have included roles in The Day After, Resting Place, Baby Girl Scott, My Brother’s Keeper,TNT’s Don Quixote, and HBO’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

Since 1998 he has written seven NY Times best-selling children’s picture books, including The Remarkable Farkle McBride, Marsupial Sue, Micawber, and I’m a Manatee. In addition, he has created two Lithgow Palooza activity books for parents and children, Lithgow Palooza Readers for use in elementary schools, and the forthcoming The Poets’ Corner for Warner Books, a compilation of fifty classic poems aimed at young people, to stir an early interest in poetry. All of this work has won him two Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Awards, and four Grammy Award nominations.

Lithgow currently resides in Los Angeles. He has been married twice, to Jean Taynton from 1966 to 1980, and Mary Yeager since 1981.

Filmography

• The Smurfs (2008)
• Dreamgirls (2006)
• "Twenty Good Years" (8 episodes, 2006)
• "Paloozaville" (2006)
• E=mc² (2005)
• Kinsey (2004)
• The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
• Untitled Aisha Tyler Project (2004)
• Shrek 4-D (2003)
• Orange County (2002)
• "3rd Rock from the Sun" (139 episodes, 1996-2001)
• Shrek (2001)
• Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)
• Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - Rugrats II (2000)
• Don Quixote (2000)
• C-Scam (2000)
• A Civil Action (1998)
• Homegrown (1998)
• Johnny Skidmarks (1998)
• Officer Buckle and Gloria (1998)
• Hollow Point (1996)
• The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
• Redwood Curtain (1995)
• "Frasier" (1 episode, 1995)
• My Brother's Keeper (1995)
• "Tales from the Crypt" (1 episode, 1995)
• Silent Fall (1994)
• Princess Caraboo (1994)
• A Good Man in Africa (1994)
• The Pelican Brief (1993)
• The Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale (1993)
• Love, Cheat & Steal (1993)
• The Wrong Man (1993)
• Cliffhanger (1993)
• Raising Cain (1992)
• At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)
• Ricochet (1991)
• The Boys (1991)
• L.A. Story (1991)
• Memphis Belle (1990)
• Ivory Hunters (1990)
• Kid-Size Concert (1990)
• Traveling Man (1989)
• Out Cold (1989)
• Distant Thunder (1988)
• Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
• Baby Girl Scott (1987)
• The Manhattan Project (1986)
• "Amazing Stories" (1 episode, 1986)
• Resting Place (1986)
• Mesmerized (1986)
• Santa Claus (1985)
• 2010 (1984)
• The Glitter Dome (1984)
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
• Footloose (1984)
• "Faerie Tale Theatre" (1 episode, 1984)
• The Day After (1983)
• Terms of Endearment (1983)
• Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
• Not in Front of the Children (1982)
• The World According to Garp (1982)
• I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982)
• Blow Out (1981)
• Big Blonde (1980)
• Mom, the Wolfman and Me (1980)
• The Oldest Living Graduate (1980)
• All That Jazz (1979)
• Rich Kids (1979)
• The Big Fix (1978)
• Secret Service (1977)
• Obsession (1976)
• The Country Girl (1974)
• Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972)

Awards

• Tony Best Male Actor "Sweet Smell of Success" 2002
• Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series "3rd Rock From the Sun" 1998 - 99
• American Comedy Award Funniest Male Performer in a Television Series (Leading Role) "3rd Rock From the Sun" 1997
• The Actor Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series "3rd Rock From the Sun" 1997
• Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series "3rd Rock From the Sun" 1996 - 97
• Golden Globe Award Best Actor in a TV Series (Musical or Comedy) "3rd Rock From the Sun" 1996
• Golden Satellite Best Actor in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) "3rd Rock From the Sun" 1996
• The Actor Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series "3rd Rock From the Sun" 1996
• Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series "3rd Rock From the Sun" 1995 - 96
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play "Requiem for a Heavyweight" 1985
• Emmy Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series "Amazing Stories" 1985 - 86
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actor "The World According to Garp" 1982
• New York Film Critics Circle Award Best Supporting Actor "The World According to Garp" 1982
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance "The Changing Room" 1973
• Tony Featured Actor in a Play "The Changing Room" 1973